My 1970 440 Challenger is going back togethor!

[redgum78]

Redgum
Nice progress on the Challenger since I posted you last year.
I am just starting the cutting the quarter panel patch panels for my A66 Challenger vert
Your quarter panel replacement on your car- Came out GREAT
The car in paint looks good.

Thanks 340, slow but getting there! It is not a great paint job (probably looks better in the pictures). I just wanted to get some cover on it so it was sealed up. Yep I was really happy with the quarters and how they came up. I tried to find your car on ebodies only but I couldn't search it? I am not a member over there so maybe that is why? Do you have thread on this site that I can check it out?

[timdp]

Thanks Cuda Cody,

Couple more pics;

What is the tire size on those rear tires?

Thanks!

[nsmall]

Excellent progress.  Most importantly getting the kids involved.  Wishing you many years of enjoyment with the family when you "finish" it.

[redgum78]

Excellent progress.  Most importantly getting the kids involved.  Wishing you many years of enjoyment with the family when you "finish" it.

Thank you 

[redgum78]

Thanks Cuda Cody,

Couple more pics;

What is the tire size on those rear tires?

Thanks!

Hi timdp, some pics of the rear tires as promised. They are 31x10.5 R15. 15x7 rims, not sure of the backspace but plenty of room. They are only on there as rollers to move it around the shed. The Challenger was lifted in the rear a little by the previous owner which helps. I had these wheels on my Australian Valiant Charger (pictured) when I was going to dirt drag race it. I also stuck them on my 73 Dodge Charger for a bit just to see what it looked like. Fitted fine on that as well.

Put up some pictures of your car when you get a chance.

Dan

[70 Challenger Lover]

Nice work! I just found your thread. Keep up the posts. I'm doing a similar thing with my 70 RT. Sitting ten years and rather than restore, just get it back on the road. I'm not even repainting mine. Only painting what I have to. I think my thread was named "Another RT going back on the road (finally)"

It's a race to see who gets there first!

[redgum78]

Nice work! I just found your thread. Keep up the posts. I'm doing a similar thing with my 70 RT. Sitting ten years and rather than restore, just get it back on the road. I'm not even repainting mine. Only painting what I have to. I think my thread was named "Another RT going back on the road (finally)"

It's a race to see who gets there first!

Hi Challenger Lover, Thanks for the positive comments. I will search out your thread and follow along. The paint on mine is mainly rust prevention! It probably looks good in the photos but I didn't spend a lot of time on the preparation. The body is now rust free, I just wanted to get it coated so it didn't deteriorate. One day down the track I may take it off the road for a season and do a closed door body and re-spray but for now it will do the job.
That sounds like a challenge!!! I'm in, lets see who gets theirs on the road first! I better go check out your thread and see how far along you are!

[redgum78]

Boot lid and rear lights in.

[70 Challenger Lover]

I think the paint looks great. Better than mine is going to be. I'm going to have a freshly painted front end, interior, trunk, and eng compartment with the rest of the car faded, scratched and showing old bondo repairs.

[redgum78]

My dash cluster has been in storage for some time. When I packed it away I noticed it had some damage from rats chewing at the insulation in several places. As I new it had issues I decided to replace it with a Painless wiring kit. This was about 5 years ago. The Painless kit sat unopened on the shelf and the dash packed away until recently.
Rant warning! 
When I opened the Painless kit a few days ago I must say I was really disappointed. I thought I was buying a harness with all the terminations made up and it was plug and play onto the existing kit.
Nope!! Basically 3 rolls of colored wire cut roughly to length, terminated into a generic fuse block and a box of general purpose terminals. I think there was only 2 terminals that were component specific. The rest was just a box singular generic terminals that can be purchased at any store.
For this to work I would have to un-terminate 90% of the connectors on my old harness and reuse them. Part of the reason I brought a new harness was because the engine and body harness were missing from my car.

To be fair the Painless kit seems to be good quality material but really its a $500 purchase for about $150 worth of material. I was happy to pay that thinking it was saving a mountain of work but it doesn't!

Rant over- Sorry about that I had to get it off my chest!

Moving forward- The original dash and cluster wiring is in really good order other than the rat damage which I have repaired. I am going to use the original wiring up to the bulk head connector. I will cut up the Painless kit and use the engine section and the body section of it. Planning on using the original fuse block. Not sure at this stage if I will use the bulk head connector or if I will modernize this somehow.  If I re-use it I will run the charging circuit separately (almost set my Charger on fire when that failed on me!).

[anlauto]

Painless wire kits are made for Hot Rods or custom cars, not your basic restoration type vehicles... M&H wiring is truly "plug and play" for our cars...too late now for that advise I guess

[70 Challenger Lover]

Nice looking dash setup. Sounds like your wiring is going to be fine in the end. Hard to tell in the photo but the gauge lens looks pretty decent. I used a three step plastic polish on mine and it came out like glass. Big payoff for very little effort.

[timdp]

Those chewed wire look real familiar. Had three inches of rat shit to clean out of my car and lots of chewed wires to replace. Some chewed in two places so that I was left with just loose pieces of wire. Took a while to tie up all the loose ends...

T

[redgum78]

Painless wire kits are made for Hot Rods or custom cars, not your basic restoration type vehicles... M&H wiring is truly "plug and play" for our cars...too late now for that advise I guess

I had a look at the M&H, it would have been a better choice- I should have done more homework when I purchased.

Nice looking dash setup. Sounds like your wiring is going to be fine in the end. Hard to tell in the photo but the gauge lens looks pretty decent. I used a three step plastic polish on mine and it came out like glass. Big payoff for very little effort.

Yeah once I got over the initial disappointment I realized I can make it all work pretty well. The Painless kit won't be completely wasted, I will use all the engine and lighting sections.
The whole dash assembly is actually really good. The Gauge lenses are fully clear and all the switches function. it would need work if going in a concourse restoration but it is perfect for my driver.

Those chewed wire look real familiar. Had three inches of rat shit to clean out of my car and lots of chewed wires to replace. Some chewed in two places so that I was left with just loose pieces of wire. Took a while to tie up all the loose ends...

T

The little buggers can do some damage that's for sure. And they stink! it would be a tough job repairing that damage in the car. I was lucky they didn't go too far into the main harness, they pretty well stuck to the looses wires. I soldered in new wire anywhere they cut into the copper and then covered with heat shrink. On the wire that just the insulation was chewed I covered with heat shrink. I even color matched the heat shrink!